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Air Raid Sirens in Edmonton Capital Region

I found a really cool map of the location of all the Civil Defence and National Survival Attack Warning System sirens around the region when I was doing some research. I'm curious if it's still active and if it went off in 1987 to warn about the tornado? Anyone remember anything like that?

May be time to bring back the old low tech methods of emergency alerts:

Many Camp Fire victims didn't get emergency alerts. Those who did got them too late. - CNN

“Paradise Mayor Jody Jones said landline phones are automatically enrolled in the county's alert system, but cell phones have to be opted in to get the alerts. She said they have conducted drives to get people to register, but she wasn't sure how many residents signed up.

"I got a phone call, I got texts on my cell phone. My husband got a phone call on the landline," she told CNN. "So that's the kind of notification people would get. If they went outside they could see what was happening also."”

Calgary's Cold War solution to warning citizens about the next flood: air raid sirens
BY JEN GERSON
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: JUN 19, 2014

Canada once had 1,700 sirens to warn citizens of a pending bomb attack, activated at will by the prime minister. Installed in the 1960s during the Cold War, most were removed in the ’90s, deemed expensive and no longer necessary.

But after last year’s debilitating floods, both Calgary and High River decided they needed a better way to alert citizens of floods, fires, tornadoes, derailments and other dangers. Officials decided the oldest solutions may be the best ones.

“Remember the old air raid sirens that used to be on buildings?” asked Calgary Fire Chief Bruce Burrell. “We’re actually going to start putting them back on the tops of fire stations because, depending on what channel you’re on on your TV, you won’t always get Alberta Emergency alerts.”

Even though most people are more connected to information than ever before, attention is divided between hundreds of media outlets, social media streams, and on-demand entertainment channels. The sirens “will be an indication to people to turn on the radio or turn the TV to a local channel to watch for an emergency alert,” Chief Burrell said....

Ken Uzeloc, Calgary’s deputy fire chief of operations, said the city received a $1-million grant to install 39 sirens by the end of the year. The municipality is looking at different sirens — ones that just bleep loud warnings, and models that can include spoken instructions.

...

“The 13,000 residents of High River were caught almost entirely off guard when floods demolished much of the town and surrounding suburbs — flood victims there received almost no warning, and were left fleeing their homes ...”

"Something I’ve been thinking about: Should forested communities like Paradise have neighborhood “air raid” sirens to warn residents of approaching wild fire? Current alert systems are hit and miss and if you’re sleeping you won’t have radio or TV on." / Twitter

...

“
Many do. Paradise had regular fire drills. The roads could not accommodate the number of cars evacuating.“
...

@starburst42
·
Nov 13
Replying to
@RyanSabalow
Yes. A lot of rural Calif areas have fire sirens. My neighborhood assoc (rural Sonoma Ctt) just installed one with robust battery back-up, also recommend portable, hand held scanner with extra batteries. I have one. It is on during all red flag events & power outages.
5

@ChristinaToms

Nov 14
Replying to
@RyanSabalow
We have them for earthquakes and floods, so yes! Q is triggering mechanism - quake and flood sirens are triggered by automatic sensors, with minimal need for human judgment/oversight. Interpretation of fire risk would likely require a human...

Nov 13

@RyanSabalow
Oak Creek Canyon in Arizona has wildfire alarm sirens. We saw them when we drove through there a few years ago
·
Nov 13
The sirens will sound for any emergency that requires evacuation, be it a fire or a flash flood. ...”

“IN the event of a Cold War nuclear strike, British civilians would have received the most chilling message imaginable.” see below:

COLD WARNING This is the terrifying message Brits would have received in the event of a nuclear attack
As air raid sirens sounded across the nation, TV bulletins and radio broadcasts would have been used to spread this terrifying message
By GEORGE HARRISON
29th January 2017